Alright, so I saw a question online the other day that got me thinking: how long can cats actually go without using their litter box? I’ve got two fur-balls myself, Muffin and Patches, and I figured it was time to get to the bottom of this. I mean, what if there’s a situation where they can’t get to their box? I’d hate for them to be uncomfortable.
First, I took away their normal litter box. I had one, so I just picked it up and stuck it in the closet. I made sure they saw me do it too, just in case they thought it magically disappeared. Then, I set up a fresh, brand new litter box. The same size and everything, just wanted to see if a change would throw them off.
I watched them like a hawk. For the first few hours, nothing. Muffin just napped on the couch like usual, and Patches was busy trying to catch that red dot from the laser pointer. I kept thinking, “Okay, any minute now…”
- Around the 4-hour mark, Patches started sniffing around the area where the old litter box used to be. He looked at me, then back at the spot, a little confused. I felt a little bad, not gonna lie.
- By hour 6, both cats had checked out the new litter box, sniffed it a few times, but still didn’t use it. They seemed a bit restless, pacing a bit more than usual.
- 8 hours in, Muffin finally gave in and used the new box! She took her sweet time, digging around like she was burying treasure, but she did it. I almost cheered, but didn’t want to scare her off.
Patches, on the other hand, was more stubborn. He held out for a whopping 10 hours before finally using the new box. He did that little victory dance they do afterward, flicking his paws like he was shaking off water.
So, based on my highly unscientific experiment with my two cats, it seems like they can hold it for quite a while, at least 8 to 10 hours. They definitely weren’t thrilled about the change in the litter box, but they adapted. It is worth mentioning that this is not a good situation to put a cat in for long periods of time. I restored their original box right after the experiment was over, and they went straight to using it as normal. I guess it just proves that cats are pretty resilient creatures, but they also have their preferences. It’s good to know what they can tolerate in a pinch, though!
